Survey Shows Visualizing Success Works

Eilene Zimmerman
, ContributorI cover innovative startups and their technology, apps and gadgets.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

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For visualization to be effective, Nussbaum stresses that it has to be detailed, meaning we have to picture the wished-for outcomes in as much Technicolor detail as possible—not things like a sales number but the experience and the feelings associated with reaching our goals. For example, visualizing a positive customer exchange that leads to increased sales is better than focusing on the desired percentage increase in sales.

An effective vision board should include specifics about the setting, the people involved, what the interpersonal interactions are like, and of course, what we are feeling and what those around us are feeling. “We need to make the visualization as real, people-based, detailed and emotion-filled as possible,” she says.

So what does this mean to TD Bank?

“The survey results show that business owners who take the time to visualize their company are more successful and more likely to reach their goals than those who don’t,” says DesMarteau. “That’s important for us as partners to small businesses, as we help the map out plans and translate that to greater financial success.